What Are Friends For?
by Nitrowugs
Summary: What if there is another reason for the conflict in the Summers' household and what if Buffy had a friend who was always on her side and who defended her against everything and everyone? How much different would her life really be?
1. What Are Friends For - Chpt 1

What Are Friends For?

Author: Nitrowugs

Rating: PG for off-color words

Pairings: B/A and OC/Aus eventually

Feedback: Please. Constructive criticism is always welcomed and appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with BtVS and AtS. (Characters, plots and dialogue from the shows are borrowed with no infringement intent whatsoever.)

Distribution: Please ask and let me know where it's going.

Written: 08/12/2015

Summary: What if there is another reason for the conflict in the Summers' household and what if Buffy had a friend who was always on her side and who defended her against everything and everyone? How much different would her life really be?

A/N1: Remember the season 6 episode 'Normal Again' where Buffy thought that her life as vampire slayer was her own mind playing tricks on her and she was actually a mental patient who had been catatonic for the past six years? Well what if ...

A/N2: Thoughts are in single quotes (' ')

Chapter 1

Part 1

Buffy heard her father's footsteps as he tipped down the hall toward her bedroom. It was well after two in the morning and she knew that her mother was sound asleep, after all that was always when Hank paid his late night visits - when his wife was sound asleep and couldn't hear what the bastard was doing to his daughter.

"Well, never again. His assaults stop right now. Don't worry Buffy, I'll handle this."

Buffy heard the voice that sounded very much like her own, but she knew that she must be hallucinating. She was looking at an exact copy of herself and as far as could tell she was still asleep. She glanced over at the alarm clock on the table next to her bed. It read 02:27 am. Yep, she was asleep. Then who was just talking to her?

The voice spoke again -

"I'm Elizabeth - and I'm a part of you."

"What?"

"Yeah. I'm the part that Hank wants to keep hidden, the part that he doesn't want anyone else to know about, the part that will kick his ass if he so much as touches you again."

"You're my Elizabeth? My friend from when I was a little girl? Where have you been? I have missed you so much." She hugged her childhood friend.

"I missed you too, but you outgrew me. You didn't need me anymore." There was sadness in Elizabeth's voice. "But this slayer gig is a whole new ballgame and with Hank being the asshole that he is, you need me again. Don't worry Buffy, I'll take care of Hank - and anyone else who dares offend you. You are the slayer and I am your strength. I promised, remember?"

"I remember. I'm sorry I forgot about you. I'm so happy to have you back."

"I'm happy to be back. Get some sleep, Buffy. I'll handle Hank."

Buffy really was sleepy. She hugged Elizabeth again and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Part 2

Elizabeth heard Hank as he quietly pushed open the bedroom door. She was ready for him. She jumped out of bed and assumed a fighting stance with a stake in her hand.

"Stop right there," she said with a voice of authority that Hank was not used to hearing from Buffy but left no doubt that she meant every word she said. "If you come one step closer, if you ever enter my room again or try to touch me in any way, I will break your fucking neck."

"Buffy? What is wrong with you? It's daddy, honey. I've just come to say goodnight to my baby girl."

"I'm not your baby girl. Don't come into my room ever again or I'll let your wife know exactly what you did to her daughter while she was asleep."

Hank gulped loudly. He had assumed that since Buffy hadn't said anything about his little visits she actually didn't remember any of what happened. Now he knew better.

"All right, Buffy, I'm going, but please don't say anything to your mother about this. Please."

With the stake firmly in her hand, Elizabeth stalked toward Hank who was still standing just outside her bedroom door. When she was close enough, with one swift kick where he would feel it most painfully, she let him have it, closed the bedroom door and returned to bed. She had not even turned on the light.


	2. What Are Friends For - Chpt 2

What Are Friends For?

Chapter 2

Part 1

The next morning when Buffy came down to breakfast, Hank was not in his usual seat at the breakfast table.

"Good morning, Buffy," her mother greeted her; "did you sleep well last night?"

"Morning, Mom, I slept really well last night. I didn't wake up once all night."

"Good, good, you look well rested. I'm glad to see you're over that vampire nonsense. For a while there, I was afraid you were really getting sick."

"I'm not sick, Mom; everything I told you about vampires is true and I'm the slayer. You have to accept that."

Before Joyce could answer, Hank walked slowly into the kitchen and eased himself into a chair. "Let's not talk anymore about that, Joyce. Let's just have a nice quiet family breakfast so Buffy can get to school on time."

With that Joyce served breakfast and the two adults discussed their plans for the day, leaving Buffy completely out of their conversation.

Within Buffy's mind Elizabeth whispered, "He's up to something, Buffy; I know he is. I just don't know what it is. We'll have to watch him carefully."

Buffy agreed and for the rest of their time at breakfast, Hank would not look at his daughter. He and Joyce spoke in riddles of topics that they had started either the day before or earlier and neither Buffy nor Elizabeth knew what they were talking about.

"I'm getting nervous, Elizabeth. I can't figure out what they are talking about, but I do know it has something to do with my being the slayer."

"I agree. We'll just have to keep our eyes and ears open around them."

Things went very well at school that day. Buffy was sure that she had aced her Biology mid-term exam even though she had had very little time to study for it. Instead of going home after school, she went to the library. Ordinarily she would go to Merrick's house for training ... just the thought of her dead watcher's name brought tears to her eyes. She blamed herself; she had not been strong enough to save him. She had run away just as he told her to do and he had paid for her safety with his life. The fact that she had avenged his death by killing the vampire that killed him didn't make her feel any better.

'I shouldn't have left him,' she berated herself. 'I should have stayed. Between Merrick and me maybe we could have killed him without either of us dying.'

"Buffy, Merrick was right," Elizabeth interrupted her thoughts. "You were not ready to face him then. You had to prepare yourself and when you were ready, you faced him and destroyed him. You. By yourself. Don't you see what a formidable slayer you can be? And you will only improve with time."

"Thank you, you're right; I wasn't ready. I just miss him so much." She sighed inwardly. "I'd better patrol before I go home. If I don't, I know I won't be allowed out of the house anymore tonight. They watch me like a hawk."

Part 2

After a long night of slaying, Buffy arrived home one night to find her parents fighting. Again. She didn't have to ask what was wrong; she knew that the fights were always about her. Since the night that Elizabeth reappeared, it seemed that all of their fights centered around her, involving something she did or something she didn't do. Her mother tried to defend her, but Hank was always the more vocal and more critical of her parents. She couldn't stand it anymore. She slipped into the downstairs bathroom and wept - wept over the loss of her happy family, loss of her father's love and the fact that her parents seemed to be headed for divorce.

"You agreed with me that this was our last resort, Joyce, and it is time. Things are not getting better, they are getting worse. And now she has been expelled from school for arson. What else are we supposed to do? I am at the end of my rope and I can't, I won't, take this kind of behavior from my own daughter anymore."

He stalked out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

Mid-day the next day Buffy headed to the kitchen to get lunch for herself. As she did she heard her father's voice call to her. "Buffy, come into the living room; there is someone that your mother and I want you to meet."

"Be careful, Buffy," Elizabeth cautioned; "he is up to something, I don't trust him."

When Buffy stepped into the living room, she saw her parents and another man that she did not recognize. She assumed this was the person her parents wanted her to meet.

"Buffy, this is Dr. ..."

Before Joyce could finish the introduction, Hank yelled, "NOW!"

Buffy turned around quickly just as she felt a needle in her right shoulder. "What are you..." was all she could get out before she fell to the floor unconscious.

"Buffy...," her mother yelled as she tried to reach her daughter.

"It had to be this way, Joyce. I knew you wouldn't let them take her otherwise."

"Hank, what are you talking about? What have you done to my daughter?"

Before Joyce could reach Buffy, one of the orderlies that accompanied the doctor picked Buffy up, threw her over his shoulder and headed for the front door. Joyce yelled for him to stopped, but Hank grabbed her arm.

"They are from the local asylum. I have signed the papers to have her committed. They are familiar with cases like this. They will be able to handle Buffy. There is nothing you can do about it."

"The hell there isn't," Joyce yelled as she jerked her arm away from her husband; "if anything happens to my daughter in that place, I will kill you. Now get out of my way; I'm going with her."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Summers, that will not be allowed. She will have to be with us for a brief while before she can have visitors," the doctor told Joyce as he followed the orderly out the door.

Joyce was almost hysterical. "Why did you do this?" She punched Hank in the face as hard as she could, breaking his nose in the process. "You'd better pray that nothing happens to her."


	3. What Are Friends For - Chpt 3

What Are Friends For?

Chapter 3

Part 1

Buffy had been a patient at the asylum for two weeks and except for brief periods when she met with Dr. Jameson, a different doctor from the one who admitted her, she was kept sedated. Joyce had never met Dr. Jameson and every time she came to visit her daughter, Buffy was unconscious. At her last visit, Joyce told the admitting doctor that she would return in two days and at that time she wanted her daughter conscious, or else. She left the 'or else' condition open, but the doctor knew that Joyce Summers could cause considerable trouble for him if he did not comply with her demand.

The admitting doctor contacted Hank and asked him to come with his wife when she returned. He did not want to face Joyce alone when she saw the condition that Buffy was in.

Two days later Hank and Joyce arrived together and met with the admitting doctor.

"I'm very sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Summers, there is no response from her at all. She has reverted back into her make believe world and I don't know when, or if, she'll ever return to us."

He flashed the mini-light into Buffy's eyes again. "See?"

At long last Elizabeth roused from the drugs they had given her and pushed the doctor away. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop flashing that light in my eyes? You've taken everything else from me, are you trying to take my sight as well?"

"Buffy!" Joyce exclaimed. She was so happy to see her daughter awake and talking; she rushed to the bed and took Buffy in her arms.

At that moment Dr. Jameson entered the room, excused the admitting doctor and asked Buffy's parents to have a seat. Joyce declined the seat and stayed next to the bed with her daughter.

Part 2

When Dr. Jameson asked to speak privately with Hank, it did not occur to Joyce to be suspicious; she was too happy to see Buffy. Once the doctor and Hank left the room, Elizabeth begged Joyce to do whatever was necessary to get her out of the hospital. She was afraid that if her mother left her there one more night, they would never see each other again. She had been kept so thoroughly sedated most of the time since she was admitted to the hospital that she did not know how long she had been there or which doctors she could trust.

What she did know was the conversation that she remembered shortly after she first arrived. She heard her father's voice and the voice of the admitting doctor. Her father insisted that his daughter must have encountered some situation that was so traumatic for her that it caused her to have a split personality because Buffy would not otherwise be so disobedient and resentful, she would not have attacked him as she had before he had her committed. The doctor had been certain and reassuring; he had promised Hank that if Buffy did indeed have a split personality, with the current methods that they used, they could have her reintegrated in a matter of days.

Elizabeth was adamant about wanting to leave the hospital, but she had to be cautious. She could not let Joyce know that she was not Buffy.

Part 3

In the meantime, Dr. Jameson and Hank were speaking in the doctor's private office.

"As I informed you earlier, Mr. Summers, your daughter does not have a split personality; there are actually two distinct persons inhabiting your daughter's body. One of them is Buffy, the girl that you know as your daughter; she is kind, polite, gentle and loving, just as you described her. The other is Elizabeth. She is rude and belligerent; her only redeeming quality is her absolute loyalty to Buffy and her desire to protect Buffy.

"Most of the time Elizabeth is happy to play the secondary role; she will remain dormant until she feels that Buffy is threatened in some way. At such time she attacks like a lioness defending her cubs."

"Then why did she attack me? I came to say goodnight to my daughter and she attacked me."

The doctor looked at Hank with cold, steely blue eyes. "Oh come now, let's be truthful here, Mr. Summers; I know exactly what you did to your daughter. Buffy may have buried the memories so deep that she is not aware that it happened, but Elizabeth has not. That is when Elizabeth first reasserted herself, and it was to protect Buffy... from you."

"That's not true." Hank almost yelled at the doctor. "I was just coming to say good night to her."

The doctor's steady gaze did not waver; with one raised eyebrow and a most condescending voice, he asked, "At two-thirty in the morning?"

Hank knew he was caught in his own lies to the doctor. "I-I..."

"As of this morning I am releasing Buffy into her mother's care and I will expect regular reports from her on Buffy's well being. I will not inform your wife of what I know, but let me make myself very clear. If I hear anything from Mrs. Summers or from Elizabeth that might suggest that you have made any untoward action whatsoever against your daughter, I will personally press charges against you. I have recordings of every meeting that my staff and I have had with your daughter since she was brought here and I assure you, I can make the charges stick.

"Now," he asked with a contemptuous smile, "shall we rejoin your family?"


	4. What Are Friends For - Chpt 4

What Are Friends For?

Chapter 4

Part 1

Elizabeth was so happy to be going home. She urged Buffy to talk to her mother. With tears in her eyes, Buffy hugged Joyce and thanked her for getting her released from the hospital.

Once they were back at home it was soon obvious that things were still deteriorating between Joyce and Hank. Joyce informed Buffy that her parents were getting divorced and the two of them were moving to Sunnydale.

"But Mom, how will we live? You don't have a job. I can get an after school job, but I won't make enough money to support us."

"Don't worry, honey, I am getting enough from the divorce settlement to make a nice down payment on a house for us and to acquire the Sunnydale Art Gallery. We'll be fine."

And they were fine...for a while...until Buffy fully accepted her destiny as a vampire slayer. She met and eventually accepted Giles as her watcher; she met Willow and Xander and they became her friends; and she met Angel, a vampire with a soul, for whom she felt an immediate attraction.

Elizabeth felt an attraction for Angel as well, but there was something off about him. In him she recognized a kindred spirit and it was not Angel per se that attracted her; it was Angelus. At first she didn't understand it. Why would she be attracted to the monster that Angel had described to Buffy.

Then it dawned on her - he was Angel's darker side, just as she was Buffy's darker side. The question was...Did he want to protect Angel as she wanted to protect Buffy or did he want to destroy Angel so that he could be dominant, all the time?

Elizabeth found that she could communicate with Angelus when Angel and Buffy were asleep. At first he thought that the slayer was speaking to him so he was his usual rude and obnoxious self.

Elizabeth set him straight right away.

"Now you listen to me you loud mouthed, arrogant demon; I'm not Buffy and I won't tolerate your disrespect and your vulgar mouth. I am Elizabeth. Just as you and Angel share the same body, Buffy and I share the same body, but we are definitely not the same person. I am as different from Buffy as you are from Angel. The major difference between you and me is that while you hate Angel, I love Buffy. She is my best friend and I will not let anyone or anything harm her if I can prevent it."

Angelus couldn't help himself; he found himself attracted to this no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners type of female. She was a refreshing change from what he saw as weakness in the soul's slayer.

"Let me get this straight. You're a slayer, too?"

Elizabeth had to get Angelus to see the differences and similarities between herself and Buffy compared to the same between himself and Angel.

"Think of it this way - you and Angel have the same skills, but you are a better fighter. It's not the skill-set, it's the mindset."

"That's a pansy-assed way of putting it. You mean I don't hold back when I fight; I'm more ruthless, more vicious, and I go for the kill."

"I like my way of putting it better."

Angelus laughed, a true light-hearted laugh for the first time in a very long time. "I think you and I are going to get along very well."

"I can tell you now, I'm not going to any operas or ballets."

He laughed again. "We'll see."

Part 2

Over the next several months as Angel and Buffy got closer, so did Angelus and Elizabeth. Buffy was aware of Elizabeth's feelings for Angelus and she promised to speak to Angel about time-sharing with his resident demon. At first Angel balked at the idea because he thought that Buffy was infatuated with Angelus.

"Oh, please. I thought you knew me better than that."

"Well then, why..."

"Angel, I think it is time you met someone, a good friend of mine."

When Buffy explained Elizabeth's existence to Angel, he was skeptical at first, but as soon as Elizabeth presented herself, he knew right away that she was not Buffy. He could see it in her eyes when she looked at him.

"This is amazing; does anyone else know that you exist?"

"Only Buffy, Hank Summers and the doctor at the asylum where he had us confined know about me."

After thinking things over, Angel said, "Give me time to come to terms with this. Angelus and I need to talk, to come to an agreement on the conditions of his release. As long as he agrees to the conditions and sticks to them, then I think we might be able to work something out."

"I'll see to it that he behaves himself like a good little demon, don't worry."

Angel chuckled as he listened to Angelus' response to Elizabeth's words. "He didn't like that."

Elizabeth laughed. "I knew he wouldn't."

Included in the pact that the two vampires and the two slayers agreed upon were the conditions that Angelus would at no time attack humans, he would not drink from Elizabeth and he would always return control back to Angel at the agreed upon time. Angelus knew that he could not expect to get an agreement any better than that.

Part 3

There were times when Elizabeth had to step in and make things clear with Buffy's friends. For example, just as Angelus would not tolerate disrespect from anyone, neither would she, not for Buffy and not for Angel (Angelus). In the beginning when she asserted herself on Buffy's behalf, there was friction between her and Buffy's friends until she made it clear where she (Buffy) stood. Her friends, Willow first, and begrudgingly, Xander, came to understand and accept her as the slayer that she was. Giles also gained an unspoken respect for his slayer.

With Elizabeth's help, Buffy's grades returned to what they were at Hemery High before she became the slayer. Buffy's confidence soared and her mother was more than pleased. Her father eventually came around and acknowledged that he had made a mistake in having her committed to an insane asylum. Buffy forgave him, but Elizabeth was not so easily persuaded and she let him know exactly what she thought of him. Her only concession was that she would not interfere if Buffy wanted to spend time with him as long as he 'behaved himself'.

Joyce still was not aware that Elizabeth existed.

One night Angel was injured when he came to Buffy's rescue as she was attacked by three warrior vampires. They escaped back to her house where she bandaged his wound despite his protest. The next day when Buffy fell asleep in class, Angelus taunted Elizabeth with, "I knew you couldn't wait to get your hot little hands on my body. You just couldn't help yourself, could you?"

"Oh give it up. That was Buffy bandaging Angel and you know it. She was worried about him; you could see she was almost in tears."

"Yeah, yeah, but that was you rubbing your hands over my back, admiring my tattoo."

"If you're going to keep that up, I'll just leave."

"NO," Angelus said a little too anxiously; then more calmly, "Don't go. I miss you when you're not here."

She smiled and kissed him. It surprised him but he recovered quickly, put his arms around her and kissed her thoroughly. Buffy woke up abruptly, thinking she was dreaming about kissing Angel.


	5. What Are Friends For - Chpt 5

What Are Friends For?

Chapter 5

Part 1

'Wow! That was some kiss. I wonder why Angel's never kissed me like that in real life? Maybe he wants to but is just being a gentleman. Maybe I should give him a little nudge in that direction.'

Two weeks later, on the weekend of Buffy's seventeenth birthday, Joyce was out of town and Angel spent most of the weekend with Buffy. Saturday afternoon they were making out on the sofa when they were supposed to be watching a movie and Buffy decided it was time to 'give him a little nudge'. As things started to heat up, Angel broke away and said. "Buffy, I think we'd better stop."

"I don't want to stop."

She tried to kiss him again, but he briefly put an index finger against her lips.

"Are you sure? Because if we continue the way we're going, I don't think I'll be able to hold off much longer."

Her reply was a kiss as she remembered dreaming in class.

Knowing full well if she said 'no', he was likely to combust right there, Angel asked again, with a strangled voice, "Are you really sure about this?"

Buffy's reply was to free herself from his arms and lead him up the stairs to her bedroom.

Sometime during the night, Angel woke up in agony; he quickly dressed and managed to get outside before he was overcome from the pain. He tried to call Buffy who was sound asleep; Elizabeth heard him instead. By the time she got outside, a woman was approaching Angel to see if he was all right.

"It's all right," Elizabeth told the woman; "I'll take care of him."

She turned to what she realized was Angelus.

"What happened? How did you get free?"

"I don't know. Who cares? I'm free. Do you know what this means?"

"Yeah. It means we are going back inside and finish what they started and you can turn control back over to Angel just like we all agreed."

Angelus just looked at her - sure he cared for her, not loved her, cared for her - but he was not giving up this chance at freedom for anyone, not even Elizabeth.

"And why would I do that? You can't expect me to give up my first chance at real freedom in nearly one-hundred years because of some agreement I made with the soul. I won't do it - not for you, not for anyone or anything."

"That's your final decision?" She tried to control the quiver in her voice.

"What?"

"I told you when we first met, I love Buffy; I will not let anything happen to her if I can prevent it. And remember: I can fight just as dirty as you can."

Without answering, she turned around and headed toward the house.

"Where are you going?"

"Back inside. Buffy is still asleep. I have to let her know what has happened and that you will be coming after her."

"Elizabeth, I'm not coming after the slayer. Look, there is something that I have to do. I probably won't be back before tomorrow night."

Part 2

She watched Angelus walk away and went into the house. Instead of waking Buffy, she went to the kitchen phone and dialed the number for Jenny Calendar.

When Jenny answered the phone, Elizabeth didn't apologize for the late night call, instead she explained who she was and what had happened.

"You knew this was a possibility, didn't you?"

When Jenny started to deny the accusation, Elizabeth cut her off. "Spare me your denial. Angel may not know who you are, but I assure you, Angelus does; he recognized you as being from the clan that cursed him with a soul. And trust me, he has no love in his heart for you. You should have told us about this, Jenny; you could have prevented this. Why didn't you?"

Jenny did not answer her.

"You don't have to answer me, I can guess. You didn't want to risk your relationship with Giles when he found out that you hid your background from him as well as your real purpose for being in Sunnydale."

Without admitting what Elizabeth had said was true, Jenny tried to retain her dignity by asking, "What do you want from me?"

"Do you have a spell to revoke an invitation to a vampire?"

"Yes, but there are ingredients needed."

"I don't need the ingredients; I just need the words."

"You are that powerful?"

"Just give me the words, Jenny."

"All right; just a minute."

Jenny retrieved a book from her bookshelf, returned to the phone and read the words of the spell to Elizabeth.

"Do you want me to let Rupert know what has happened?"

"Do you want him to know who you really are?"

"N-No."

"You have your answer. Thanks for the spell."

Elizabeth spoke the words given to her by Jenny and headed for bed. She wanted to believe Angelus when he said he would not come after the slayer, but she wasn't taking any chances with Buffy's safety. At least now she could be confident that Buffy was safe in her own home because, now that the spell was done, she did not have to worry about Angelus or his childer.

Part 3

Mid-morning on Sunday Elizabeth had just finished explaining to Buffy what had happened with Angel's soul when the phone rang. It was Angelus.

"Angelus, it's Elizabeth."

"Good. What time is Joyce due back home today?"

"Buffy received a call from her this morning. She needs to be away for a few more days. She will call tonight to let Buffy know how long."

"Good. The soul and I have had a long talk."

"Wait a minute I thought the soul was gone."

"No, he 's still here, just not in control. We have agreed to a fifty-fifty time share of the body."

"Really?" Elizabeth was ecstatic. "I am so happy. I hope Buffy will not be too upset."

"Humph, she'd better be happy that I'm willing to give them fifty percent."

"You know what this means, don't you? You're going to have to play nice a lot of the time so that her friends and watcher won't know who you really are."

"Aw damn."

Elizabeth laughed. "I knew you hadn't thought about that."


	6. What Are Friends For - Chpt 6

What Are Friends For?

Chapter 6

Part 1

Angelus explained to Elizabeth that when he arrived at the warehouse where Spike and Drusilla were staying, Dru already knew that he was free and was already planning a celebration for the citizens of Sunnydale. She realized as soon as she saw him that he was not coming back to their little family and she got very upset. He had to send his childer and half of his minions away from the city.

"They will not return until I call for them."

"Good. That is one less thing that I have to worry about when it comes to Buffy's safety."

"I already told you, 'You never have to worry about any of my people coming after the slayer.' Now the soul wants to speak to the slayer."

"Can't you ever just call them Angel and Buffy?"

Angelus gave her a flat-out unapologetic, "No. Now put her on."

Part 2

The fifty-fifty time share that Angel and Angelus had agreed upon actually worked better than anyone expected. The two males still did not like each other, but Angelus finally gave up his constant criticizing monologue in Angel's mind and allowed him some peace. When they did speak to each other, the conversation was, for the most part, civil. The two females were happy to have their significant other to themselves more often without interference.

The two couples decided to share the slaying. Actually Angelus wasn't interested in slaying per se, he just needed a good brawl once in a while and letting loose on the bad guys of Sunnydale at night gave him the release he was looking for. However it worked out, it allowed Buffy time to get more needed sleep which meant that she was more alert and participated more in her classes. Her teachers and her friends were pleasantly surprised. The only one who struggled with the situation at times was Angelus. On so many occasions he had to actually bite the inside of his cheek or keep his hands in his pockets so he could dig his nails into his palms to keep from saying the wrong thing.

"How the soul puts up with all of the crap from the slayer's friends and her watcher is beyond me," he told Elizabeth one night while they were on patrol. "I just want to snap a few necks and get it over with."

Part 3

As Buffy's eighteenth birthday approached, she noticed that her strength was fading, as was all or her slayer abilities. Naturally the first person she mentioned this to was Elizabeth, who had also noticed a loss in her powers. "I don't know what is going on, Elizabeth; Giles had never mentioned anything about a slayer losing her powers. I'm going to talk to Angel about it. Maybe he has heard of something like this."

Angel and Angelus were both concerned about the girls because they had already noticed a loss of slayer coordination and strength. At first Angel thought Buffy might be coming down with some disease, but that had been ruled out because, without Buffy's being aware of it, he had checked her out thoroughly with his vampire senses and he could sense nothing out of the ordinary.

Except, when he kissed her, her taste was different. He ignored it at first, but the next time he kissed her, the taste was stronger, definitely something unusual was in her system.

"Buffy, have you been consuming anything out of the ordinary lately? Your taste is different. Don't get me wrong, you still taste very sweet. I love the way you taste. It's just that something is different, and it is stronger today than it was yesterday. Have you talked to Giles about your loss of strength?"

"I have. He said that he would look into it, but so far, he hasn't found anything. I'm worried, Angel."

"I'm worried too. Come on, I'll walk you home. I don't want you out alone at night."

Buffy started to protest, but she saw the concern on Angel's face and kept quiet, grateful for the support.

After leaving Buffy at home, instead of returning to the mansion, Angel went by Giles' house. He wasn't sure what he expected to find out from the watcher, but he had to do something.

In the beginning Giles seemed genuinely concerned about his slayer and he assured Angel that he was confident that Buffy would get her strength back. Angel was not convinced.

"Something foreign is in her body, Giles; I tasted it when I kissed her last night, then again when she came to see me tonight. The taste is stronger than before, which means that she has somehow ingested more of whatever this is in the last twenty-four hours."

Angel briefly saw a look of shock and fear on Giles' face. He almost missed it; but he didn't. What the hell was going on? Giles knew something that he was not saying.

"What is it, Giles? And don't tell me that you don't know."

"Angel, I assure you that I am looking into this and I ..."

"DON'T," Angel growled. "I know that you're lying."

Giles had never heard Angel speak so forcefully before. He expected that Angel knew more than he thought at first so he might as well come clean. He told Angel everything, starting with Travers, the druggings, Kralik, everything.

"The test is tonight. We have to hurry, if you want to save your slayer."

"Where is it? I can get there faster than you can in your car."

Angel was out of the door and gone as soon as the words were out of Giles' mouth. At the Sunnydale Arms building Angel burst through the door and found Buffy trying to untie the rope used to bind Joyce to a chair.

"Where is he?" Angel demanded.

"Dust," Buffy said quietly.

Angel was untying Joyce when Giles arrived in time to stake Blair, the vampire turned by Kralik.

Giles drove Buffy and Joyce home and Angel went on foot since Giles' car couldn't hold four people. Angel was at the Summers' house when the others arrived. He volunteered to stay with Joyce while Giles and Buffy went to meet Travers at the school library. It was at that meeting that Travers fired Giles as Buffy's watcher and announced that a new watcher would be arriving in Sunnydale shortly.

As expected the relationship between the new watcher and the slayer did not get off to a smooth start; the primary reason for that was the fact that the slayer practically ignored the new watcher.

Part 4

As the end of the school year approached Angel agreed to take Buffy to the prom which made Buffy and Elizabeth very happy. The only problem was that the guys disagreed markedly on what to wear. Angel felt that since it was a formal affair, he should wear a tux. Of course Angelus disagreed because, according to him, "All eyes in the place will be on us. We look damn hot in leather pants."

"Angelus, I am not wearing leather pants to a formal dance. That is all."

"What's the matter? Afraid we'll get more attention than the girls?"

At this point Elizabeth stepped in. "You haven't seen the dress that we're considering, have you?"

"It better not be that green thing that you tried on when we were with you. There is no way in hell that you're wearing that. It is too revealing. It just looks like a few scraps of silk placed in the absolutely necessary places."

"That's the whole point," Elizabeth laughed. "So the decision is yours, Angelus; either you wear the tux or I wear the few scraps of silk."

"FINE." Angelus was not pleased, but he knew when he was whipped.

"What was that about being whipped?" Angel asked in his head.

"Just shut up," Angelus snapped back.

Part 5

Graduation day came and went, the good guys were successful in destroying the mayor after he transformed into a demon and before almost no time at all, Buffy and Willow were roommates at UC Sunnydale. That was where they met Riley Finn. Even though Buffy made it clear that she had a steady boyfriend and was not interested in dating anyone else, Riley was not willing to give up so easily.

Then one evening when Buffy was taking a nap, Riley showed up at her dorm room determined to convince her that they belonged together. Unfortunately, for Riley that is, Elizabeth answered the door.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"We need to talk," he stated and without waiting to be invited in, he tried to push his way into the room and found himself on his back on the opposite side of the hall.

"How many times do I have to tell you? My answer is still 'No'. Now get away from me and stay away from me or I will bring you before the Disciplinary Committee on charges of harassment."

A furious Riley got up and started toward the door again when he heard Claire, one of Buffy's dorm mates whom he recognized from her psych class. "I saw the whole thing, Buffy. If you need me, I will be a witness for you when you go to the Committee. I have noticed how he bugs you every chance he gets."

Riley knew it was in his best interest to leave. "You don't know what you're missing," he threw back at Elizabeth as he headed for the exit.

"Oh I think I do," Elizabeth threw back at him as she and Claire laughed.

The next morning Elizabeth told Buffy what had happened with Riley. "I don't think we should say anything to our guys about this, Buffy, not until we have more information. There is something off about that guy and I want to find out what it is."

Part 6

What Elizabeth found out was quite alarming. She and Angelus were patrolling one night when they heard someone running. They witnessed a vamp being zapped by a taser gun and taken away by Riley and his friends. From a distance they followed and saw the vampire being taken into Riley's dorm.

About a week later Angelus ran into that same vamp at Willy's and started up a conversation with him. That was how he learned about the Initiative and their experiments on vamps and other demons, about soldiers, including Riley, who posed as students during the day and went out demon hunting at night. Almost equally as startling was the fact that their leader was Maggie Walsh, the psych professor.

He described their elaborate underground facility and the outside access. He also described what he had heard from other demons in the containment cells regarding some Frankenstein type monster that the Initiative was working on. That was why they needed demons with specific skills and body parts.

Elizabeth and Buffy both shivered as Angelus detailed what he had been told.

"We have got to shut that place down," Buffy told the group assembled in Giles' living room. "I don't care if it does have the federal government's backing, what they're doing is wrong."

For once Giles and the new watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, agreed; both felt that they did not yet have enough information about the Initiative's operation and purpose.

"Too bad I didn't take Riley up on his offer," Buffy (actually Elizabeth) said with a look of distaste on her face, letting the group know that she was joking.

Angelus did not think it was at all funny.

At that moment a frantic Willow burst into the house screaming, "They took Oz. Buffy, the Initiative took Oz."

"Calm down, Willow," Buffy told her; "we'll get to him before they have time to do their experiments on him."

"Buffy you can't go in there alone and besides those are human beings that you will be fighting," Giles protested.

"I'm going," Elizabeth insisted.

Giles knew that if Buffy was going, Angel was also going.

"I'll notify some of my minions to meet us there for backup; you're not going without me," Angelus told Elizabeth.

"Angel it's too dangerous for you; remember what they do to vampires?"

"We'll go in, get Oz and be out before they know what I am. Don't worry."

Of course, best laid plans ...


	7. What Are Friends For - Chpt 7

What Are Friends For?

Chapter 7

Part 1

Things went well at first. They found Oz unconscious and strapped to one of the tables, freed him and were on their way out when one of the captives recognized Angelus and called to him for help. Angelus remembered the demon and turned back to free him. When he did so he found himself facing Riley and a half dozen soldiers who hit him with taser blasts and he fell to the floor unconscious.

Outside the facility when Elizabeth realized that Angelus was not with them, she panicked. It took two of the minions to keep her from trying to get back inside.

"We will get him, slayer," one of the minions told her, "but he would want us to get you and Oz to safety first."

Two hours later the group was at Giles' house again and planning how to rescue Angel (actually Angelus) before the Initiative had time to put a chip in his head. There was a sudden banging on the door. When Giles opened the door, he had to act quickly before Angelus fell into the room. Two people dressed in soldiers' uniforms ran down the walkway and jump into a black SUV. It sped away from the house without its lights on, but Giles recognized the face of the driver; it was Riley Finn. He was laughing.

Elizabeth rushed to the door and helped Giles to get an unconscious Angelus to the couch. They could tell that he had been operated on.

Part 2

Buffy was almost hysterical, but Elizabeth was not. Elizabeth excused herself and went into the bathroom where she convinced her reluctant counterpart to let her handle things until their current problem was resolved. Buffy only agreed because she knew that, with her current concern for Angel, she might not be able to act with cold detachment as Elizabeth would. When Elizabeth returned to the living room, she was deadly calm. She spoke to one of the minions.

"Do you know where Spike is and how to get in touch with him?"

"Yes, slayer. He is at the soul's apartment in LA."

"Contact him. Tell him to return to Sunnydale immediately and bring Drusilla and the rest of the minions. They are needed here right now. Have him hire a human to drive him back if necessary. Do not tell him what has happened to his sire."

Angelus' childer and all of his minions knew about the relationship between their sire and the slayer; they had been told that when he was not available, they were all to take orders from her. That included Spike and Drusilla. Spike didn't like it, but he knew not to go against an order from Angelus.

Part 3

By the time Spike and the others arrived in Sunnydale, Angelus had been moved to the Crawford Street mansion and, thanks to stolen human blood infused with a pint of slayer blood, he had recovered from the surgery that implanted a chip in his head. However, the chip was functioning as it should; he could not hit a single human being, not even to defend himself.

Wesley opted not to participate in the venture, but Elizabeth and Angelus, Giles and Jenny, Willow, Spike and the others put together a plan for assault on the Initiative. Everyone's actions were spelled out in detail. There would be no mistakes this time. None of their team, including Drusilla and the minions would be left behind. Giles, Jenny, Willow, Oz and Xander would remain at the mansion while the others carried out their plan. Jenny and Willow would continue downloading all of the Initiative's data from their computers onto backup disks; Giles and Oz would try deciphering what was downloaded. Xander would help in protecting everyone if vampires invaded the mansion.

When Drusilla first arrived at the mansion, she went straight to her sire and without touching him, she wailed over what had been done to him. "The stars have stopped singing. Don't worry, daddy, the mean old doctor will make you all better. I will see to it," she told Angelus.

When Angelus told Spike to get his battle axe, the bleached blond vampire knew that a fun time was ahead.

According to what they learned when Willow and Jenny first hacked into the Initiative's computer system, only a skeletal crew of soldiers would be on duty between eleven at night and eight in the morning. Unknown to anyone inside, at 11:15 pm all of the outside exits were automatically unlocked.

Two minutes later a slayer and her pissed off vampire boyfriend, two of his childer and a dozen minions, all fully armed, entered through the various doors, disabled the soldiers on guard and locked the doors from the inside. Maggie was the first one to notice Elizabeth and Angelus, but she was hit with a taser blast from a gun retrieved from a soldier who had been standing guard at one of the doors. With the soldiers out of commission, over-powering the doctors and support personnel was easy.

Unfortunately Riley and his team were on guard duty that night. When the Initiative's support personnel came to, they found themselves bound, gagged and secured to chairs or operating tables while Elizabeth, Angelus and Spike held Walsh, Riley and the doctors secured to chairs in one of the rooms for questioning.

Part 4

"Now," Angelus addressed the doctors casually, carefully controlling the anger that boiled just below the surface, "which one of you planted the chip in my head?"

The doctors looked at each other, but did not reply.

Without moving his eyes from the doctors, he told Spike, "Cut off their right hands."

Spike was confused. "Whose?"

Annoyed, Angelus growled, "All of them and burn them."

"Why do you want them burned?"

"So that they cannot be reattached." Angelus thought the reason should have been obvious.

"Oh, right." Spike stepped forward with the battle axe in his hand and a look of gleeful anticipation on his face.

"Wait! I did it. I did it." One of the doctors admitted.

"I knew you did. I just wanted to see if you would admit it to save your friends. Remove the chip."

The doctor hesitated, "I don't know if I can; I..."

"Now!" Angelus' voice was low and menacing, but his face remained calm, serene. He could tell that the doctor was afraid and he did not want a nervous doctor playing around in his head.

The doctor knew that he had no choice. He nodded his head in reply.

"And doctor, make sure that it is not painful and there are no after effects."

Half an hour later the chip was out and Angelus felt almost normal again, but he wanted to make sure. He called Drusilla over to the operating table and instructed her, "Dru, see if the chip is out."

Drusilla danced around the bed and without looking at her sire, she reported, "It's all gone, daddy. The stars are singing again."

Angelus got off the table and walked over to the doctor. "I will ask you this just once. Will there be any side effects from the implant or the surgery?"

"No."

"Will I have to come back here looking for you, for any reason?"

"No." The doctor closed his eyes, trying hard not to imagine what would happen to them all if Angelus was dissatisfied after the surgery. "No."

"You'd better hope not, doctor. Now, how many vamps do you have chipped in this place?"

"Four. Two others are scheduled to be chipped today."

"Free those scheduled for today and remove the chips from the others."

"But I..."

"Do it now. How many demons do you have chipped here?"

"None now, they have all been released."

"How many were there and where were they released?"

"There were six. Four were released here in Sunnydale and two were taken back to LA."

"Contact one of your other team leaders. Send him and his team out to recapture those released here in Sunnydale; have them here by tonight. Don't even think about letting your people know of the situation existing in here or you will all be dead before help can arrive. Understood?"

"Yes. Yes I understand."

Part 5

While they waited for the four demons to be recaptured, Angel contacted his friend, Lorne, in Los Angeles to see if he had heard anything about the two chipped demons that were released there. He had and he could have them back in Sunnydale by nightfall.

Two hours after sundown the four chipped demons from Sunnydale and the two from LA were back in the Initiative. The team that captured the four had joined the others as prisoners in their own facility.

The other Initiative teams had been told that government representatives had arrived from Washington and had closed the facility for a review of Professor Walsh's projects. If they were not satisfied, the facility would be shut down permanently.

"Remove the chips from all of them," Angelus demanded.

"The demons don't have the healing power that vampires have; it will take them longer to recover."

Angelus was getting impatient. "How much longer?"

"We kept them here about a week after the implant."

"Then plan on being here for a week."

The doctor hesitated and Angelus could sense that there was something he wanted to say, but was afraid.

"Come with me," he demanded and led the doctor into the office with 'Dr Walsh' on the door. "All right, what's on your mind?"

"Are you familiar with project 314?"

"No. What is it?"

Part 6

The doctor was very much afraid that Walsh would somehow discover that he was the one who revealed information about her pet project, 314, but he knew that 314 had to be stopped and, like it or not, right now it seemed that Angelus was the only being with the resources to do what needed to be done. The doctor had to trust that once Angelus found out the truth about the project, he would see to it that Adam, the creature being created in the project, would be destroyed; after all, Adam posed a very real threat not only to the slayer, but to all beings that he encountered once he was released.

The doctor walked over to the desk; he entered a code on a keyboard and a heretofore unseen window opened in the wall revealing another room on the other side. On the bed was ... Angelus could not describe it; he had never seen anything like it before. It seemed to be something more gruesome than the monster described by Mary Shelley in her novel, Frankenstein. The chest cavity and abdomen of the creature were open and the insides seemed to be a combination of parts from various entities - human, demon and machine.

"What is this?" He demanded of the doctor.

"It is a prototype being created by Dr. Walsh. Her original intentions were quite honorable - to create an unstoppable warrior that would be used in battle instead of humans; unfortunately, things got out of hand and she refused to see the danger that this thing posed. It sees everything in its path, human or demon, as disposable. It should be destroyed."

The thought of Elizabeth or Buffy facing this creature in battle gave Angelus chills and he agreed with the doctor, this thing had to be destroyed and all of Walsh's records should also be destroyed. In fact, this entire Initiative should be shut down, permanently.

The doctor seemed shaken by what he was about to say next, but he felt that he had to get the words out.

"And Angelus, this is only phase one; phase two is well underway."

Angelus looked at him expectantly and the doctor continued.

For some reason the vampire's cold unemotional stare was not as unnerving as it had been earlier. He knew that Angelus was shaken by the sight of Adam. The doctor relaxed a little as he described the rest of Professor Walsh's plans.

It seemed that in phase one each base for the project was chosen mainly because of its size and strength. Everything else was added. For phase two the base required not just size and strength, but mindset, attitude, willingness and desire to kill. Soldiers were being trained in the field, now, to have a 'take what I want', 'have feelings for no one', 'spare no one' attitude, to be human killing machines. Demon and machine parts for additional strength and special abilities were being added, without the subject's knowledge, as they became available.

As it turned out phase one was taking too long to get a prototype ready and the government was getting impatient. They wanted the prototype now, or else. With the necessary mindset already developed, creating a battle-ready warrior now took one-third of the elapsed time as it took getting Adam ready. Even so, Walsh had not been willing to give up on her pet project.

Angelus was appalled. "Are you saying that there are humans walking around Sunnydale now that are being groomed with this destiny in mind?"

"Yes. And most, unknowingly, have demon and machine parts already implanted. There are twelve of these soldiers in the field now and, so far, none have failed. Most startling of all is their recovery time. They can be badly injured tonight and still ready to return to the battle tomorrow after not more than four hours of down-time."

"I want all of them destroyed."

"But they're human..."

"Not anymore, they're not."

Angelus left the room and walked over to Elizabeth. "Contact Willow on your cell; find out if she has finished downloading all of the Initiative's files, then let me speak to Giles."

Their plan had just gotten a lot more complicated.


End file.
